It used to be that there was a lot of talk on Capitol Hill about actually balancing the budget. Back in the Clinton Administration, the Republican Congress came within one vote of sending a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution to the states for ratification.

But after a few balanced budgets in the Clinton era, it’s been all red ink – and the latest forecast from the Congressional Budget Office features …

While the Inspector General of the VA did not draw a direct link between substandard care and the deaths of as many as 40 veterans at the Phoenix VA, a new report showcases what the IG labeled “unacceptable and troubling lapses in follow-up, coordination, quality and continuity of care” for veterans at that facility.

Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs say investigators have found no evidence that health care delays at a Phoenix VA hospital led to the deaths of several dozen veterans, though the report confirmed internal troubles with the VA health care system and its delivery, according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported on Monday that the draft investigative report had not been publicly released, but was instead shared …

Sometimes when you come back from vacation, you are greeted at the door by a lot of work that has piled up on your desk. For President Obama, a variety of domestic and world events pushed their way into his vacation, as he returns to the Oval Office with all kinds of unfinished business.

Let’s look at some of those items, D.C., in no particular order of importance.

Still grappling with the brutal video killing of an American journalist this week, Pentagon leaders defended a failed rescue effort from earlier this summer and refused to publicly rule out the chance of attacks against Sunni militants in their home bases in Syria.

“I don’t know any other way to describe it, other than barbaric,” said Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel at a Pentagon news conference, as he denounced the execution …

In the fight of his political life in 2014, Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) isn’t running away from the controversy surrounding the Obama health law, as he has unveiled a new television ad which makes no bones about his support for some of the law’s major changes.

“That’s why I helped pass a law that prevents insurance companies from canceling your insurance policy if you get sick,” Pryor said.

A day after a video surfaced showing Sunni militants brutally killing an American journalist, President Obama denounced the Islamic State group, saying the entire world is “appalled” by the murder of James Foley.

“No just God would stand for what they did yesterday,” the President said of ISIL, saying the Islamic extremist group has “no ideology of any value to human beings.”

As President Obama boarded Air Force One to go back to his vacation on Martha’s Vineyard on Tuesday afternoon, there was still no concrete explanation from the White House as to why the President had scheduled a return to work in Washington, D.C. as part of his summer break.

Before Mr. Obama left on his trip, reporters tried to get some insight from the White House on why the President was …

Back for two days from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation, President Obama said he would send Attorney General Eric Holder to Ferguson, Missouri on Wednesday, as he again urged police and protestors to avoid further conflict in the wake of the killing by an officer of an unarmed black teenager.

“While I understand the passions and the anger that arise over the death of Michael Brown, giving into that anger by looting …